


Sterek: Pacing, Realism, and Dramatic Tension in the Slow Build Scenario

by homoeroticismforthewin



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Meta, Non-fic, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-25
Updated: 2012-08-25
Packaged: 2017-11-12 20:24:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/495311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/homoeroticismforthewin/pseuds/homoeroticismforthewin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My argument for why I don't want Sterek as endgame/UST, but rather as an actual canon relationship on an ongoing basis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sterek: Pacing, Realism, and Dramatic Tension in the Slow Build Scenario

Okay, so having previously made my case for why Sterek should happen (see my open letter to Jeff Davis here: http://homoeroticismforthewin.tumblr.com/post/29645273266/the-argument-in-favor-of-sterek-an-open-letter-to-jeff), I shall now turn my attention to the How of it. I see a lot of people arguing for a slow build. For the purposes of this essay I shall refer to the two approaches as the Slow Build, and Sterek!Now. I understand the case for the slow build, I can see the appeal: the slow build gives us lots of slashy goodness to use in fanart and fanvids, so there’s a bonus. There’s the uber-satisfying slow burn of UST (Unresolved sexual tension). There’s the suggestion of Sterek as endgame, thus ensuring that narratively they live happily ever after instead of being together for a season or two and then moving on, or us having to see them dealing with the reality of being in a relationship (which frankly is not conventionally romantic or satisfying). There are the epic romance feelings that you get from the fairy tale ending when they finally get together and everything is tied in a pretty bow. Sterek!Now has none of those to recommend it.

 

And the arguments against Sterek!Now are also fairly convincing: they wouldn’t be good together yet. Stiles is too inexperienced, Derek is too screwed up, and they’d probably kill each other. If they got together now it’d feel forced or rushed. It would kill the dramatic/romantic tension for them to be together now. There’d be nowhere left for the story to go.

As an aside, I am incredibly happy to be part of a fandom that actually makes cogent arguments for and against its ships and preferences. But because I’m a jerk, I’m now going to go try to invalidate all of those solid and logical arguments. Because dammit, I want Sterek! Now. Or at least I want to make the Case for Sterek!Soonish, and see if anyone else finds it convincing.

First of all, I can’t argue against the arguments for Slow Build Sterek as endgame/UST story. That would be a totally legitimate way to play the whole thing, and if Jeff Davis decides to go that way, I’ll be too busy wetting my pants with joy to remember that I ever wanted anything else. It’s a story worth telling. It’s just already been told a million times: didn’t even like each other, then friends, then more. It’s sweet, it’s organic and natural, and it makes us very happy as viewers.

But obviously there are other stories to tell using a couple, particularly when that couple is not the central pairing of the show (which in the case of Teen Wolf is Scott and Allison). Relationships can be destructive or chaotic or supportive or fulfilling. They can start well and end badly, or start badly and end well. They can be a gumbo of these elements. They also don’t have to be the central aspect of the character journey.

One of the most fascinating relationships in television history (to my mind) was the relationship between Zoe and Wash on Firefly, who had a stable adult relationship which impacted the storyline and the interpersonal dynamics of the ensemble, but did not overshadow either character’s individual journey. Another fascinating relationship storyline was created between Buffy and Spike, which was not by any means smooth sailing, but which served as a catalyst for character development and new storylines. I’m not suggesting that Jeff Davis should be basing the Sterek dynamic on either of these, merely pointing out that there is more than one kind of love story to be told. Stiles and Derek are unique characters, and they deserve a storyline that is more than formulaic will they/won’t they. Not that I think Jeff would write it that way, but I’d love to see a few more twists along the way than that.

The reason that I want to avoid a dynamic wherein Sterek doesn’t happen until the very end is twofold. Firstly, because television is unpredictable and subject to all kinds of forces beyond our, or Jeff Davis’, control. There could be another writers’ strike, or the series could be cancelled, or someone could die. And while obviously the lack of Sterek would be the least problematic outcome of any of those situations, it would still suck. For all I know Jeff Davis has an ironclad contract as show creator that would allow him to take his show and go to another cable network if MTV so much as looks at him wrong. I certainly hope so, because I want him to be free to tell his stories in whatever way he prefers. But we should acknowledge that this isn’t always how television works.

Secondly, I’d like an earlier progression to Sterek because we don’t get a lot of stories about established couples getting by (although we do get stories about established couples splitting up). I get that happy couples are for the most part uninteresting, Tolstoy nailed that one when he said “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” But it might be nice to see how flawed and conflicted characters move forward from the satisfying and cathartic moment of Getting Together. I want to see some of the “Now what?” If only because season after season of smoldering sexual tension can get sort of… boring. The moving on from the OMG moment introduces ambivalence, but that makes it real and thought-provoking.

Honestly, do I expect Derek and Stiles to be sweet and stable and happy? I read a lot of fluff fanfics, so I can vaguely picture it. I wouldn’t mind terribly if that’s where they ended up. Having a single functional relationship on a show would probably not be a death knell. But working from where the two characters are right now, I have my doubts. The Slow Build proponents are right when they say that their relationship stands to be terrible if they got together now. I think things would get messy fast. But I think that kind of messy would be Interesting.

Narratively, it would be fun to watch them drive each other nuts and have miscommunications and distrust and disrupt the plans that would keep the whole pack safe in between crashing together with the force of an exploding neutron star (because YOWZA). That kind of messy could happen as part of an ongoing slow build, or in the context of confusing early relationship drama. Just because Stiles and Derek get kissy doesn’t mean that Derek is suddenly going to become articulate and forthright. After all, TW is not an after-school special. It’s not a very special episode. We don’t need the characters to be perfect so that they make each other happy, even though we desperately want to make our woobies happy. Because that would be Dull. And Stiles and Derek aren’t dull.

That said, it could also be interesting to juxtapose the conflict in every other part of these characters’ lives with the comparative haven of their relationship, and create an incongruously peaceful place between them. Stiles talking to the guidance counselor in 2.11 worked dramatically because it was the eye of the storm. Stiles was given the space to pull everything together and see what was coming, and the emotional impact was huge. That scene was what made the episode as a whole work. This is what Sterek could be if they were allowed to be together in the midst of loss and danger and conflict. Because, really, they are two broken, shell-shocked characters trying to piece things together and be brave. One element of strength and solace does not kill the tension of the entire storyline, and I’d argue that it can in fact bolster it. Having more to lose means higher stakes, after all. And when that single solid thing threatens to crack, all hell breaks loose emotionally.

To get back to the arguments against, a lack of slow build doesn’t mean No build, either. Jeff Davis has shown us over and over that he can build relationships, even very quickly. Isaac’s integration into Derek’s pack required comparatively little screen-time and was remarkably believable for all that. All of the arguments about how getting Stiles and Derek together now would be rushed or forced are essentially predicated on the fact that it would be Difficult to write that. Luckily, that isn’t our problem. It’s Jeff Davis’ problem, and he has a secret weapon known as super ninja WRITING SKILLS. So the fact that Sterek!Now could come off forced or rushed or awkward is pretty well mitigated by the fact that if Jeff wants to do it, as a writing God, he’s fully capable of doing it.

So all that leaves is the awkward problem that we all have with realism. This is slightly related to the age difference (which I’ll probably write further meta on at some point). It’s also related to young love as a construct. Specifically, we are all watching a teen drama, and the tropes inherent in the format mean that we ship these characters TOGETHER 4-EVA. Despite most of us being well aware of the fact that that is ridiculous. Logic and statistics tell us that a vanishingly small minority of people would discover a compatible partner for a life-long relationship at the age of 16, let alone have the resources required to make it work with them. Of course, this IS a show about teenage werewolves. So maybe we should just suck it up and suspend our disbelief.

Because otherwise, we have to accept that our OTPs are at best a pleasant teenage diversion before these characters grow up and get on with their lives (or die messy, depending upon how cruel Jeff turns out to be). Of course, if the relationship has no hope of lasting, then does it really matter if there’s a slow build or not? Is the slow build really just about allowing us to fool ourselves and believe that the relationship could last beyond the end of high school in some bizarre suspended animation wherein none of our characters ever advances to middle aged ennui just because we don’t have to watch anything beyond that first ecstatic connection?

Except that the thing is that we tell stories, we frame our experiences, using this highly artificial structure. Our lives may have a beginning, middle, and end in the strictest sense, but realistically they don’t follow a narrative arc of any kind. It’s just one goddamn thing after another. So when we think about our favorite fictional characters, we DO freeze them. We may have elaborate head-canon about where they were before and where they went after, but usually Happily Ever After is sufficient.

We willingly say goodbye to the characters there and let them sink into the relief of an artificially tidy ending. And we do this because it satisfies us, gives us what we otherwise cannot build in our own lives- endings. Because no matter how final the ending in our own lives, so long as we’re still kicking, it’s not over. Nothing we’ve ever done or encountered or thought is over because we’re still lugging it around as a construct, a memory. We can never linger in a perfect moment- or not for any longer than a single moment. And fiction allows us to indulge that, to pretend that happiness is not fleeting, but rather can last.

That’s a strong argument for the Slow Build. But it is also a strong argument against it. Because while stories will always end, they don’t have to end in the predictable way. They can stay forever in a different moment: a moment that tells us more about what we want or what we need than a simple gratification of carnal or romantic longing. Sterek has the potential to tell a big story, to make a big point, to teach us something big about ourselves. Something more than “Just keep waiting.”


End file.
